Dr. Samar Habibullah

Dr. Samar Habibullah is a Dubai-based Specialist Psychiatrist with extensive clinical, academic, and leadership experience across the UAE’s major mental health institutions. Over more than a decade of practice, she has developed a strong reputation for clinical excellence, multidisciplinary collaboration, and a deeply patient-centered approach to care.

She currently serves as a Specialist Psychiatrist at Potentia Clinics and will soon be joining AEON Clinic as a Specialist Psychiatrist.

Clinical Philosophy

Dr. Habibullah’s clinical philosophy is holistic and patient-centered, integrating biological, psychological, and lifestyle-based interventions. She incorporates guidance on sleep, nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and daily routines into treatment plans to support comprehensive, sustainable care and long-term wellbeing.

She places strong emphasis on thoughtful diagnosis, collaborative planning, and evidence-based pathways tailored to each individual’s needs and circumstances.

Areas of Expertise & Services

• Comprehensive psychiatric assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning
• Psychotherapy for adults, teenagers, and young adults
• Mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma-related conditions, and stress-related challenges
• Teen and young adult mental health (academic stress, identity-related challenges, family dynamics)
• Addiction psychiatry: detoxification support, relapse prevention, and rehabilitation care
• Somatic and advanced modalities, including TMS, Neurofeedback, and ECT service exposure
• Liaison and emergency psychiatry
• Geriatric psychiatry: cognitive disorders, late-life depression, and complex comorbidities
• Couples therapy and family therapy (communication, conflict, emotional disconnection, relational stress)

Professional Experience

• Specialist Psychiatrist, Potentia Clinics (Dubai)
• Joining AEON Clinic as Specialist Psychiatrist (Dubai)
• Previous Specialist roles: Reem Hospital, Windsor Medical Center, Advance Cure Diagnostic Center, Al Amal Hospital
• Trained and practiced at Rashid Hospital, with experience in liaison psychiatry, emergency psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, and ECT services
• Psychiatrist, Erada Center for Treatment and Rehabilitation — managed complex detoxification cases; supervised TMS and Neurofeedback programs (inpatient & outpatient)
• Deputy Medical Director, Dar Sanad Halfway House (Abu Dhabi) — led multidisciplinary teams and supported clinical governance and service development

Education, Recognition & Thought Leadership

• MRCPsych (UK)
• Arab Board of Psychiatry
• MBBS – Dubai Medical College for Girls
• Residency training through Dubai Health Authority, including general adult psychiatry, child & adolescent psychiatry, addiction, community, forensic, geriatric, neuropsychiatry, neurology, internal medicine, and emergency psychiatry
• Adjunct clinical lecturer and examiner at University of Sharjah and Amity University
• Extensive involvement in teaching psychiatry residents, interns, and medical students across multiple institutions
• Regular speaker for CME lectures, conference presentations, and mental health awareness sessions
• Research interests: self-harm, psychiatric liaison work, and demographic patterns in acute psychiatric presentations
• Ongoing professional development in psychopharmacology, addiction medicine, and emerging psychiatric treatments

Languages

• English
• Farsi
• Hindi
• Urdu
• Arabic (conversational)
• French (conversational)